What Is a Green Light Patent Case? How I Decide What to Recommend

Every Step 2 search I run ends the same way: with a written analysis that culminates in one of three recommendations. Green light, yellow light, or red light. Inventors ask me all the time what it actually takes to earn a green, so here is the honest answer.

What the green light means

A green light means that after personally searching the worldwide prior art, patents, published applications, and non patent literature, I believe the prior art is clear enough to justify drafting and filing a utility application. It means the closest references I found leave meaningful room for claims that would actually protect your product, not just decorate it.

It does not mean a patent is promised. Nobody can promise that, and you should walk away from anyone who does. Examiners search differently than attorneys, databases update daily, and roughly a quarter of office actions cite pending applications that were invisible to everyone at the time of filing. What a green light means is that the evidence available today supports moving forward.

Why green lights are rare

Most cases come back yellow or red, and that is by design. The recommendation is earned by the prior art, never sold. If I handed out green lights to keep Step 3 revenue flowing, the rating would mean nothing, and you would have no reason to trust it. The rarity is the value.

What I look at before calling it green

Four things, roughly in order. First, novelty: is there any single reference that already shows your invention? Second, the obviousness picture: could an examiner reasonably combine two or three references to reach it? Third, claimable scope: even if your product is technically new, are the differences broad enough that a claim would stop a competitor, rather than being designed around in an afternoon? Fourth, the practical record: your disclosure dates, inventorship, and ownership, because a clean invention with a broken record is not a green light case.

What you get either way

Whatever color the light, you receive the full written analysis: the references I found, how they compare to your invention, and exactly why I am recommending what I am recommending. A yellow light comes with the specific risks spelled out so you can make a business decision with open eyes. A red light comes with the reasons, and sometimes with a path to redesign that could change the answer. You spend $1,500 to learn where you stand before deciding whether to spend $13,500. That order of operations is the entire philosophy of the firm.